well i've got my marrow rum in the demi john and its fizzing like a "guddun", what it will tastes like is another matter,ive just found some organic elderflower cordial in the cupboard so i'm going to give wine making a go!
nothings safe in the cupboard you lot have got me hooked :D x

I started some marrow rum 1 week ago, packed my marrow with demorera sugar and raisins with some grated ginger root, it has dripped nicely for 1 week and i have about 1 pint of syrup, the marrow is very green with mould and smells very bad.
Having read this forum with some interest i have now steralized a demijohn and and am going to transfer the solution to this and make up to 1 gallon with water, and also add some yeast.
Can any one let me know if i am doing the right thing or wasting my time as the marrow was so mouldy.

Well, I note that the marrow rum champions are conspicuous by their absence

I wouldn't have even started it, Hedgie, but now that you've got this far, you may as well carry on and see what happens. You've already used the sugar, so what have you got to lose? One thing I would do, though - give it a healthy dose of yeast so that it gets going strongly and has a chance to kill off any mould spores.

thanks MKG
Its now got yeast and bubbling away madly in the corner of the kitchen so hopefully it will come to something vaguely pallatble.
I have ordered the booze for free book will hopefully help for future concoctions.

Oh, it will - I've read it and, although I'm not going to tell Andy in case it goes to his head, it really is excellent. I just wonder how he stayed sober enough to write it, what with all that recipe testing and such ...

I have been making Marrow rum for many years. To be honest its hard not to get ahead of yourself. I make 4 large jars a year (Demijohns) It's simple. Get a large marrow, if you have a choice use the ones that are dumpy shaped. These will stand on end and make easy the process. I always make an incision like a mouth shape in the top just in front of the stalk. If you lean the cutter away from the actual hole it cuts at a shamfer (Angle) this enables the piece removed to be placed back in and won't fall inside. I then get a wooden spoon that will fit through the hole 2" wide and push all of the pith and seeds down inside. This I have always done and it doesn't effect the taste,in fact it allows the whole process to be quicker as you have more to rot in there. I always use a good quality Demarera Sugar as fine as you can get. Don't scrimp and scrape at this stage, as you'll only get the result you deserve if you use quality product. Pour in the sugar until its near the opening. Add a very small amount of yeast at this stage.1/2 a teaspoon. Next is to tape the piece back in place. Gaffer tape seems best, because you can keep an eye on the level in the marrow regularly and it sticks back. Last thing at this stage is to pierce a hole about 2mm using a skewer near the top near to the stalk. Push into this hole a child's drinking straw, preferably one that has a bend in it. Pop the end of a cotton bud(Removed) into the end of the straw. This stops the fly getting in. I usually stand for the first couple of weeks in a china bowl. There is very little chance of leaking as no scrapping or cutting has taken place inside. after a couple of days, lift the tape and you should have a large space for more sugar to be added. fill to the top again. Seal and leave. After a few more days check level. Add more sugar if there is room. If the level stops dropping then it has reached saturation point. Now you need a hand to suspend the marrow in an old pair of Tights. Fold one leg inside of the other as now there will be quite a weight to hold. I then hang the marrow from my shed roof.
It's a good idea to stick a piece of polystyrene to the roof above where it will be hung. This stops frost. I find you need no warm room at this stage as the rotting flesh generates quite a lot of heat. Hint "don't forget its in the shed" After a week or so check the nylon for small crystal patches building up, this will indicate drips nearing at the point of build up. Get your largest jars and buckets ready. Have a general feel around the marrow and it should feel like its ready to collapse. Your done for this stage. Pierce the bottom with a large Knitting needle and catch the goodies. The liquid should be golden brown. Sieve through some clean linen, Place in a suitable container to continue to brew. Using demijohns or similar, fill to within 4" of the top and seal with a breather chamber (Air-lock) Now you can bring them indoors. They need to be well ventilated and sort of warm but not in a hot place. Keep an eye on the airlock at two weekly intervals to make sure the water doesn't dry up. when the bubbles have ceased, and only then you can bottle. about 7 to 8 months. Xmas 2012 will give you the finest Rhum you've ever experienced.

I only filled mine with sugar about 10 days ago and already the sides of the marrow are soft and a mit mushy and there is a fair bit of liquid seeping out the bottom. Is this normal? Note I've not had to make any holes in the marrow at all, it's just finding it's own way out.

Hello there - I'm looking for an expert in winemaking/marrow rum making - a friend and I made Marrow rum about 6 weeks ago, we made one from a small/medium marrow and one from a similar sized squash. We have ended up with 2 x demijohns of pretty clear golden liquor with a fair amount of sediment (approx 1.5cm depth) of sediment.

My only concern is that both demijohns have stopped bubbling away. I haven't removed or replaced airlocks at all. Since transferring our mixture into demijohns, they have been stored at my mate's house in a cupboard at approx 18°C, about two weeks ago we transferred to utility room at my house where the temp is probably approx 21-25°C depending on whether the boiler is on or not.

I am concerned that maybe the change in temperature has affected the yeast. Can it suffer from shock moving from one temp to another?

If I added more yeast now would it help kick start fermentation again?

I'm interested. A lot of people who posted on this thread tried the traditional marrow rum recipe (despite my best advice ) and we haven't heard from them since.

So - what were the results? I know that there are died-in-the-wool marrow rum believers who will still swear that it works, but what about the people who tried it for the first time out of curiosity? Where are you all? What happened? Are you still healthy?

Assuming that there are marrow rum makers who have survived the experience, here's something I found on the net which seems to be the last word ...

Marrow wine

One vegetable that most vegetable gardeners will get sick of at one time in their gardening life will certainly be the marrow. This simple recipe will help you turn them into a rather palatable wine instead of sitting at the back of your fridge taking up all the whole top shelf and taunting you.

Chop up your marrow and put it all into a fermentation bin with the raisins, ginger and marrow seeds and orange peel. Pour boiling water over the top and stir. Allow to cool then add the lemon juice, yeast and yeast nutrient. Cover and leave for 5 days, pressing down on the pulp with a plastic potato masher on occasion.

By now it should smell a bit but don't worry this is normal. The next stage is to strain through some muslin cloth into formation vessel (demi john) and add the sugar. When this has cleared it should be racked (siphoned into another container) and left for about 6 months. After this time ensure that it has finished fermenting and bottle.

I've unashamedly nicked that from the "Ecologist" website. When I first read it, I thought "At last - common sense". Then I saw who'd written it. It was put there by one Andy Hamilton, which is why I'm not ashamed about reproducing it here.

It uses 2 kg of sugar per gallon (which cannot all ferment out) so it's designed to give you the absolute maximum in alcohol content - as near to rum as it's possible to be whilst retaining some sweetness. It uses brown sugar (I'd change that to demerara) so it's going to taste as much like rum as it's possible to be. And to top it all, it's done in a sterile environment, using added yeast - so it's going to be as safe as it's possible to be. No matter what you do with your marrow, it is not possible to get any nearer to rum than what this recipe produces.

Mine's still in a demijohn in the cupboard under the stairs, all indicates on various web sites indicate that it should be ready to drink by about September this year. It's stopped doing anything but no idea what it tastes like as I've not been near it since before Christmas at which point I was surprised that it seemed basically OK and actually had far more flavour than the marrow wine I've also made which is perfectly OK but a bit tasteless and is waiting to be blended with something else.

Taking a bit of a gamble hoping for a reply, due to the age of this thread, but here goes any way.
Had my first go at making MR, followed the instructions to the letter. However, after just 1 day, all of the liquid had been expelled from the marrow, and the rest had turned into mush.
I bottled the liquid and fitted an airlock, and it has been sat in a dark cupboard for a few weeks.
Is this going to be drinkable alcohol, or do I have to cut my losses?
Any ideas why it converted sugar so quick? Could it of been too warm?
Any replies would be welcome,
Regards
Will

I've never made marrow rum, so going to have a guess with basic homebrew knowledge.
Is the airlock still going? Have you taken a hydrometer reading? What does it taste like?
There's a reasonable chance that you might get a stuck fermentation with that amount of sugar added straight away, but then again the yeast could just as easily survive.

Interesting thread. I've never made the stuff but was always intrigued by the hanging it up and leaving it to rot method. I've noticed that some on here using the traditional method go to lengths to remove the seeds whereas in the recipe posted by Mike and also in my C.C.J. Berry book the seeds are left in. From the back of my mind I seem to recall something about some seeds imparting a bitter taste although I'm not sure but is there a difference to taste (assuming all else goes to plan ) between seeds in or seeds out.
Incidentally , mentioning the C.C.J. Berry book he also says that he hasn't sampled a good wine produced by the hanging method , most he said were far too sweet or needed considerable adjustments.